I will report back after I receive the foams. I'm expecting them maybe Saturday.

EDIT: And yes, I agree with your findings about modding most cans.

Hopefully the foams help, I find foam in headphones are there for a reason, mainly to control treble, improve bass, and even out the sound. I wonder why the owner took them out.

Also while I am impressed with the K612. I was a bit disappointed with the K7xx series ranging from the K701 to the Annies for a variety of reasons when I heard them. I just expected more from them coming from the K240, none ended up being the sound I wanted, they all lacked some warmth and had a few other issues that detracted from them being truly great headphones to me. I will reserve judgement on the K712 as I haven't heard it. I found the MA900 a step in the right direction for what I was looking for but just not quite there for me, I love it's soundstage, I find it musical, it's non-fatiguing, and I find the bass nice, but it isn't quite refined enough to my ears and the mids don't really sit right with me, I thought it was going to be the mid-fi headphone for me, but it just wasn't. If my feelings don't change about it in about a month or two, I think I may part with the MA900. I've just been having trouble listening to it consistently the past month slowly going back to the K240, then the K612 showed up without warning in the mail as a gift from a friend and that kind of sealed my MA900s fate. I'm just not using the headphone anymore and I think it would be best to part with it and have someone else give the headphone the attention it deserves. I just ended up preferring the midrange on AKGs, Sennheisers, and a few others.

I haven't heard K612. so for now I can't comment or speculate about it. but for $200 price tag you won't find any refined Sennheiser than ma900 for this price range. you have to spend more $$ to afford hd600/650.. but for me those aren't upgrades, since comparing with ma900s superior imagine and soundstage. and of course, comfort ..

I haven't heard K612. so for now I can't comment or speculate it. but for $200 price tag you won't find any refined Sennheiser than ma900 for this price range. you have to spend more $$ to afford hd600/650.. but for me those aren't upgrades, since comparing with ma900s superior imagine and soundstage. and of course, comfort ..

I find their biggest problem to my ears is their lack of transparency and this prevents them from sounding natural to me, they should sound natural yet some reason they just don't, it's just weird. The HD 600/650 have been overpriced since they started price fixing them sadly and the comfort issues I had when trying the HD 6xx prevents me from biting the bullet and buying a pair. I don't think the HD 600/650 is an upgrade from the K612 sonically anyways, more of a side step. I found once you get to the mid-tier range of $200-500 you really don't get a true upgrade until spending around $700+, rather it just seems you pay varying amounts for different sound signatures and possibly a slightly more refined sound.

Alright I got the k612 foams. It fixed the annoying reverbey sound. I just compared the q701 pads vs the stock pads with the foam inside and the q701 pads add some bass punch and make the highs a little weird. I prefer it in all stock configuration best. Now I am actually liking this headphone. It is now smooth yet not lacking in highs. My only gripe about them is the slight 2khz peak but this is not anything like the annoying k701. I think I still prefer the modded hd595 overall just because of the 2khz peak on these but the k612s are definitely a nice headphone now.

kman, What don't you like about the mids on the sony's against the k612? Is it because of the slightly forward peak that you like the k612? If that is the case then I know I will love the Sony's. How is the bass level of the sony compared to the akgs?

Thanks for the comments kman. Even though I was never a fan of the K701, this makes me intrigued enough to check out the K612 / K712. I gotta ask though, can you give us some more specific comparisons between the MA900 and K612?

The AD2000 could be 100x better, I still would choose the MA900. They could be made out of diamonds and be cheaper than the MA900, and I'd still not give them a second glance. The wing deshign ruins every single Audio Technica for me. I could care less.

This ^^^^^

I can't stand uncomfy headphones, These MA900 are so comfy it's unreal, No other headphone compares!

I also love the sound, so relaxing and liquid mids! These and the Mad dogs are my fav, The mad dog sound more engaging but the soundstage on the 900 is awesome.

If I had to pick one i'd hate to choose but it would prob be the MD slightly but I can honestly say that i'd be satisfied with just these two.

At the current prices, the ma900 and MD make a dang nice set of complementary hp's.

Yes, they are so entirely different that they are hard to "compare" to each other. The MA900 (and all the Hifimen for that matter) has zero isolation, and the Mad Dog has really excellent isolation. That means they are usable in totally different situations. Also, if it is 85 degrees, then the heavy pads of the Mad Dog are going to be really hot, while the open airy MA900 will be nice and cool.

Alright I got the k612 foams. It fixed the annoying reverbey sound. I just compared the q701 pads vs the stock pads with the foam inside and the q701 pads add some bass punch and make the highs a little weird. I prefer it in all stock configuration best. Now I am actually liking this headphone. It is now smooth yet not lacking in highs. My only gripe about them is the slight 2khz peak but this is not anything like the annoying k701. I think I still prefer the modded hd595 overall just because of the 2khz peak on these but the k612s are definitely a nice headphone now.

kman, What don't you like about the mids on the sony's against the k612? Is it because of the slightly forward peak that you like the k612? If that is the case then I know I will love the Sony's. How is the bass level of the sony compared to the akgs?

The 2khz elevations could be what I find musical about AKG, but it could be something else that causes me to find them musical, but overall the K612 is a very neutral headphones imo. It's not because of the 2khz bump in the K612, the MA900 is more forward in the mids than K612.

The somewhat too forward mids on the the MA900 is likely the problem I have, some songs it's fine, but other songs it's noticeable because it makes voices harder to understand and sounds a bit bloated compared to the K612, now I know why some people call the sound on the MA900 n-shaped. I have also noticed instruments such as the violin can be a bit too forward sounding on the MA900. The MA900 doesn't seem to have quite enough dynamic range in the mids compared to the K612, when there is say a great range in a singing voice, it's quite obvious, the K612 does a noticeably better job at conveying the singers vocal range and with more depth. Overall the MA900 just doesn't seem to have that great of clarity in the mids to my ears and can sound a bit incoherent to me when compared to the K612 and K240. The mids just seem a bit veiled to me.

I find the MA900 to have slightly more midbass and can sound punchier because of this on some songs, the K612 has a more solid/thicker sound to their bass than the MA900 and the K612 extends a little more into the subbass than the MA900.

The highs on both headphones are non-fatiguing, the K612 does have clearer and better extending highs of the two though.

Thanks for the comments kman. Even though I was never a fan of the K701, this makes me intrigued enough to check out the K612 / K712. I gotta ask though, can you give us some more specific comparisons between the MA900 and K612?

Well with more specific comparison between the MA900 and K612. I'll do a short review I guess.

I guess I'll start with the bass.

MA900: The bass on the seems to focus more on the midbass and seems to be of a slightly punchier nature, it's quite nice a lot of the time. The upper bass and lower bass doesn't seem to be quite aligned with the mid-bass, thus the MA900 is a bit mid-bass heavy and it also has a bit of a lower bass rolloff.

K612: The K612 has a linear bass, the lower and upper bass are pretty much equal to the midbass, it has a solid and robust sound to it and is more textured and refined than the MA900s bass. It extends further into the lower bass than the MA900, but like most open-headphones there is still a bit of roll-off.

Next the midrange.

MA900: The midrange in this headphone is what I consider forward, a bit n-shaped. Also because of the wide soundstage, it seems to lack some intimacy, vocals don't have quite enough presence as they should. So I find this headphone both forward yet somewhat lacking in intimacy at the same time in term of midrange. I find the midrange to have a good amount of detail and is fairly textured, there is some grain in the midrange. The upper midrange seems a bit elevated and can come across as a tad glary in certain instances, it's not as glary up top as say the Q701 though.

K612: This is where this headphone truly shines, it's an extremely linear and flat midrange, this one of the cleanest and flattest midranges I have heard. It has a good amount of depth, texture, and detail to the midrange. The vocals have a sense of realism and presence I rarely hear in a pair of headphones. It's clear and transparent. To me it seems neither forward or recessed in the midrange, it could be very slightly forward, but that's it.

Now to the treble:

MA900: Smooth and non-fatiguing with a slight roll-off, there seems to be some slight grain in the lower treble in this headphone, but other than that the treble is really nice.

K612: Also smooth and non-fatiguing, there is more clarity and extension in the treble, it's a more revealing and detailed treble but it's not harsh and I don't find it grainy.

Finally soundstage and imaging:

MA900: The soundstage is where this headphone truly shines, it's large, wide, and big sounding. A very speaker like presentation here, can be a tad too wide at times. The imaging is also great with good positioning and accuracy. This is a soundstage lovers headphone.

K612: This headphone has a nice large round soundstage, it could be argued it's a bit more accurate than the MA900. In terms of imaging this headphone is a little more precise and accurate than the MA900, but it's not a big difference.

In conclusion:

MA900: This headphone overall is fairly neutral, a bit warm sounding with a forward midrange, non-fatiguing treble, and slight emphasis on the midbass. But where this headphone shines is in the soundstage, soundstage lovers will love this headphone.

K612: I find the K612 a linear, neutral, and organic sounding headphone. I would say it's a bit on the warm side. I find it the more detailed and faster headphone of the two. Very well rounded, has no obvious bumps or recesses to the sound. If you are looking for a neutral and linear headphone, this is one of the most linear and neutral headphones out there.

Note: I find both very comfortable, the MA900 has the slight edge due to less weight.

That comparison is interesting, but is not worth much without at least some description of the equipment used, and the type of music played.

Also, in regards to "intimacy", most headphones have far more than is on the master tape, simply due to placing the drivers a fraction of an inch from the ears. If one mainly listens to headphones, this becomes "normal", but it is not accurate.

That comparison is interesting, but is not worth much without at least some description of the equipment used, and the type of music played.

Also, in regards to "intimacy", most headphones have far more than is on the master tape, simply due to placing the drivers a fraction of an inch from the ears. If one mainly listens to headphones, this becomes "normal", but it is not accurate.

I am using the ASUS Xonar DX as the DAC, a zu audio rca to 3.5mm cable, the Hifiman EF2A with stock tubes, I also use the Schiit Magni. As for the music, I play basically everything from dubstep, house, trance, nightcore, drum & bass, rap, hip-hop, pop, alternative rock, classic rock, soft rock, classical, orchestral, new age, etc. I am comparing the headphones among a wide variety of genres. I don't listen to just one or two genres, I have a very eclectic taste in music, so finding a genre master headphone is my goal.